The House of Photography in the Deichtorhallen

In the year 2003 the southern Deichtorhall was rededicated by a resolution of the Hamburg Bürgerschaft and redesigned to the House of Photography.

Under the aegis of the founding director F.C. Gundlach and in close co-ordination with the architect Jan Strömer the hall was specially adapted for photographic exhibitions. Next to the optimisation of the showroom and archive, the instalment of the library and auditorium, an architectural opening of the house to the Deichtorplatz, the settling of a photographic bookshop and the new restaurant »Fillet of Soul« belonged to the concept of a modern house in an urban environment.

Exhibitions such as ‘Corpus Christi’ (2003), ‘Martin Parr’ (2004), ‘Hubert Fichte und Leonore Mau. Der Schriftsteller und die Fotografin.’ (Hubert Fichte and Leonore Mau. The writer and the photographer, 2005) and ‘Martin Munkacsi - Think while you shoot’ (2005) got the House of Photography off the ground conceptually and programmatically. It’s been a close co-operation partner of the F.C. Gundlach Foundation ever since.

The House of Photography is a forum for contemporary, historic and future aspects of photography. With changing exhibitions, symposia and other events the House of Photography is a place that invites one to view critically and challenges the viewer to question the ground-in patterns of perception, to newly engage with the adventure of seeing over and over again.

Ideal conditions for constant dealings with the portfolio of the F.C. Gundlach Foundation were created with the formation of the House of Photography in the Deichtorhallen in 2003 and the permanent loan of the F.C. Gundlach Collection to the “Image of Man in Photography”. In close proximity to the House of Photography a common archive at the entrance to HafenCity was arranged. The last part of the permanent loan, the library, moved into the House of Photography, where it is open to the public two days a week as a reference library.